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tv   Teen Kids News  NBC  May 26, 2012 1:00pm-1:30pm EDT

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that's why i enlisted in the coast guard. now i serve to protect the environment and defend my country. were you born ready for a greater challenge? find out at gocoastguard.com. >> here's what's happening on "teen kids news." >> we'll show you how one girl's hard work and determination got her a college scholarship beyond her wildest dreams. >> we found out one way texting can be good for you. >> forget the movies. i'll take you inside the real headquarters of the cia. >> i'll tell you about a teen who's driving his way into the history books. >> find out what takes two days to make, 30 seconds to watch, and could save thousands of lives. >> i'll take you behind the scenes at an aquarium.
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hey, have any of you seen nemo? >> and we're just getting started, so stay tuned. >> welcome to "teen kids news." i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm livia. here's our top story for this week. >> college has become a lot more expensive over the years. in fact, many parents just can't come up with the money to cover all the expenses. but erika reports on how some teens can get a helping hand from a familiar but unexpected source. >> pamela is a hardworking student. she maintains good grades, spends time with her family, and keeps up on current events. she also donates time to work at a local food bank.
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>> i was part of the national honor society at my old high school, and we started volunteering at the food bank to give back to the community. i started doing that my sophomore year, and ever since, we've been doing that at least once a month. >> all the work that we do, we rely on pamela and volunteers tremendously. they do everything for us. they help sort the food. they h op doelur mailings. they help our thrift shop. they help with a wide variety of activities. >> so today you're helping us with our campaign called "check-out hunger." >> focus and dedication seem to come naturally to pamela. so it probably didn't surprise anyone when she became the first member of her family to set her sights on college. >> being a first-generation student means being the first child -- daughter or son -- to attend a college in your family. and i am a first-generation student. and i'm proud to be one. >> but to go to college, pamela knew she would need financial aid. that's when she learned about a scholarship being offered by a surprising source -- kfc. >> kfc colonel's scholars scholarship -- it was created in
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honor of the founder of kfc, colonel harland sanders. he wanted to give back to the community and also to give back to help kids and help high-school students get a chance to improve their lives through education. >> pamela's strong values and academic excellence made her a perfect candidate. but just as she was completing her application, something terrible happened. >> and i started crying because i filled out like every single part of the application, and i didn't save it. so when i closed my laptop, everything erased. >> wiping away the tears, she started over. her efforts paid off. early in the spring of her senior year, a woman called with exciting news. >> and she said that i've been awarded $20,000 from the kfc. i thought it was a ruse, like a joke, because it was april fool's day -- it was april 1st. i didn't believe her. but when she sent me the confirmation e-mail, i was so happy. >> we are very, very excited for pamela. it's a well-deserved
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scholarship. >> pamela has a formula for success. >> diligence, determination, and dedication. diligence -- i plan on studying 2-3 hours for every hour of class and basically completing every given assignment. determination -- i am determined to accomplish my goal of becoming a doctor. therefore, i will allow nothing to get in the way. and dedication -- i am dedicated. i will be dedicated to my studies and use time management wisely, knowing when to have a social life and knowing when to do my homework assignments. >> the kfc colonel's scholars scholarship grants money to 75 qualifying students each year. you can find out more by visiting kfcscholars.org. there are many scholarships out there. your guidance counselor can help you find them. with hard work and a little luck, you may find the one that's right for you, just like pamela did. for "teen kids news," i'm erika. >> there's a lot more ahead, so stick with us. >> "teen kids news" will be
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right back.
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>> according to movies and tv, secret agents lead lives of excitement and glamour. but as lauren found out, the reality is a bit different. [ camera shutter clicks ] >> spy for the cia. >> i would like to be a spy for the cia. >> do like cool stuff, spy stuff. why not? >> something you think about when you see the movies. you're like, "ooh, i want to do that!" >> if i didn't get shot at, yes. um, otherwise, i don't know. >> you'd fight crime. you just be, like, undercover. >> sounds fun and exciting. >> i want to help support, like, my country and be a spy. >> the central intelligence agency, known as the cia, is a government agency that gathers information about things going on all over the world. they call this information "intelligence."
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the agency analyzes the intelligence and then gives it to the president and other top officials so they can decide what to do. i got the opportunity to visit the cia headquarters in langley, virginia. there i met with marie harf, who gave me a tour of the building. >> we are the nation's first line of defense. we go where others cannot go. we do things that other agencies cannot do. we are tasked with collecting intelligence about issues that are of the most importance to national security. >> what is intelligence in terms of the cia? >> that's a good question. there are a lot of different kinds of intelligence. there's human intelligence, which is what our national clandestine service does. >> clandestine means secret. >> they collect intelligence from human beings -- things that only other people can tell you. that's sort of what our "spies" do. there's also signals intelligence, open source intelligence. >> cia agents gather open source intelligence from newspapers and
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other public sources, as opposed to secret sources. this intelligence-gathering is not exactly like the fast-paced action you see in movies. most cia agents lead normal lives. >> for a majority of agency officers, life is not dangerous. it's really not. it's not james bond, evading people with your car and shooting at people. it's really not like that at all, but we do do very critical work in some of the most critical hot spots in the world. we do. >> but there are a few similarities between real-life spies and the ones you see in movies. >> well, we do have a lot of people who work undercover, who, uh, you don't know they work for the agency. their friends don't know. often, family members don't know. we call them covert, so i guess that's sort of like james bond, although everybody knows who james bond is. >> to protect the identities of those covert agents, we were not allowed to tape any of the people who work here. that's why you are seeing a lot of video of marie and me walking around.
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if working at the cia sounds like something you're interested in, listen up. >> so, we have a whole variety of different careers and services and things that you can do to use your talents to help with our mission, not just being an undercover agent, although of course we have positions available for those people as well. >> and marie has a few suggestions for those of you who would like to get involved. >> if you're interested in a certain part of the world, learn about it. be curious. read books and newspapers and watch the news, and try and learn a foreign language if you're interested in foreign language. >> but if you want a job in the spotlight, this might not be the place for you. the cia's mission is to gather information, not to make headlines. i'm lauren for "teen kids news."
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>> at 15, most of us are just counting down the days until we can get our driver's license.
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but grant reports on a teen who, at 15, became one of the youngest professional racecar drivers ever. >> growing up in stockdale, ohio, zach veach always dreamed of racing cars. >> well, i started driving go-karts -- which, they're, you know, the starting series if you want to be an open-wheel driver. and the first class you start off in runs about 50 miles an hour, and it's just little yamaha engines. but i kept moving up in the go-karting series with the faster go-karts and faster go-karts. and i was gonna be racing in the atlantic championship series, which is an open-wheel car that went 180 miles per hour. but 10 days before my first race, the series was canceled due to the economy. >> but faster than you can say "pit stop," misfortune turned into good fortune. >> three days after my worst day in my life, my dad got a call from michael andretti asking if i'd be interested in driving for
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his team. >> andretti is one of the biggest names in racing. to be asked to join his team as an adult is an honor. to be just 15 at the time is incredible. >> it takes a lot of talent and hard work. you know, when you start in karting, you spend your time learning, developing your hand-eye coordination and the mental skills it takes to drive a racecar, because when you're out on the track, you're thinking about where you should brake at. 'cause we have brake markers that are 100 yards, 200 yards, and you're thinking about when should you turn into the corner, and on top of that, you're thinking about where the other cars are on the track and what the car's doing so you can relate that information back to your crew and they can make the car go faster. because, really, everybody's got the same equipment, so at the end of the day, it comes down to whoever can drive the course the best and whoever's got the best car. >> so, what's zach's secret to success? >> you always have to be open to
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help, you know? a lot of teens make the mistake of thinking we know everything, and i've done it now and then, but with racing, when you have professionals like michael andretti watching over you, you have to listen to what they say, 'cause they've been here before and they've went the ladder systems, and if you listen to them, i mean, there's no limit to what you can do. >> and there's no limit to what good zach can do. he's also the national spokesperson for focusdriven. it helps people hurt in car accidents caused by drivers using their cellphone. zach's also an honor student. clearly, this is one very "driven" teen. >> texting has gotten a pret bad rap lately. we've heard plenty of reasons why not to text at the wheel or when crossing the street. but it's still the best way to reach a busy teen. new research says it's our preferred form of communication. teens average above 50 texts a day. >> how many text messages? >> probably about... >> a lot.
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[ cellphone rings ] >> and this ohio teen is no exception. >> my phone's never turned off. it's always on. >> but in one way, kailyn's cellphone use is different. she has diabetes -- the disease that requires her to check the level of sugar in her blood on a regular basis. her doctor sends her text messages to remind her to take a dose of medicine called a bolus. >> it's a lot easier to remember to do things if you're getting a constant reminder. >> dr. jennifer dyer set up the texting program as an experiment. she had noticed a lot of her young diabetes patients were forgetting to take their bolus treatments. >> they really were not taking the majority of their boluses. >> once they started receiving customized reminders from their doctor, her patients were three times less likely to skip a bolus. each bolus contains insulin that keeps sugar from building up in the blood. >> whenever the children and the teens are taking their insulin correctly, they feel remarkably better, and they didn't even realize that they were feeling
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as bad as they were. >> and unlike a reminder from mom or dad, a message from the doctor seems to be welcome. >> the teens really enjoy the texting. i could tell because they always responded back to me. >> with diabetes on the rise among young people, this could be an idea that catches on. >> i'm leaving for college soon, so i'm under a lot of stress and i think little reminders just help. >> i'm adrian for "teen kids news."
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turning a 20-foot wall into a canvas takes vision. so will getting into college. i've got what it takes. so do you. >> this report is sponsored by the national road safety foundation. last week, we showed you all the people, props, and planning it takes to create a 30-second tv spot. the concept came from rebecca rapin of michigan. her idea for a public service
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announcement about distracted driving was the winning entry in this year's drive 2 life contest. part of the prize was a trip to new york, to work with professionals to transform her concept into a real television message. >> and i learned about, like, filming directions and lighting and kind of like how, when you film, everything has to be, like, right on the dot. >> now she's on the spot. it's time to present the completed psa to the client, the national road safety foundation. >> and we shot everything yesterday, and everything was smooth. and we edited it all day today, and this is what we came up with. [ rock 'n' roll plays ] [ horn honks ] [ camera shutter clicks ]
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[ music ends ] >> yeah, that's good. nice, nice. >> i think it's great because you were actually able to show a variety of distractions in the car. >> there has been a lot in the news about texting while driving, but rebecca's psa shows there are all kinds of ways we take our eyes, our hands, and our minds off the road. >> i know many kids who do this -- i've seen do these kind of things, and i think many kids can relate to it. >> these kids are doing all the things that you see in this psa, so i think it will make a difference and it will kind of hit home for them. >> as for rebecca, she now has a real understanding of what it takes to get a tv message on the air. >> it was amazing. >> for more information about the drive 2 life program, check out the link on our website. for "teen kids news," i'm scott. >> are you ready to get face-to-face with a shark? how about a stingray? nicole has some close encounters
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of the underwater kind. >> the maritime aquarium in norwalk, connecticut, offers visitors a unique experience -- a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour. cathy hagadorn is the aquarium's education manager. >> what happens behind the scenes is people really get to learn about what it takes to run an aquarium, what it takes to feed the animals, what their needs are, some of the veterinary care that goes on, and kind of really what makes the aquarium special. coming behind the scenes at the maritime aquarium is definitely a treat. >> with thousands of fish and other animals to take care of, you can imagine that food is high up on the list of importance. so our first stop is at a room with what you'd expect at an aquarium -- lots of scales. >> we are in the fish kitchen, and at the fish kitchen, this is where we prepare all of the meals for the animals that live here at the maritime aquarium. >> fish to be used as food is thoroughly inspected. >> just like if you go to a restaurant and you order fish from the menu, the chef is gonna check the eyes to make sure they're clear. the chef is gonna smell it to
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make sure it smells healthy fishy but not really a bad fishy. >> i didn't realize there was a good kind of fishy. i thought there was only one fishy. and guess who's coming to dinner. sharks! we're in the staff-only area above the open-ocean shark tank, where betsy is getting ready for feeding time. she's called an "aquarist." i'd call her "brave." so, how do you feed a shark? >> you feed a shark very carefully. all of the sharks here at the maritime aquarium are pole-fed so that way we can record exactly who's eating and how much they're eating. now, these sand tiger sharks are actually more like scavengers than they are predators, so the fact that we are feeding them kind of a dead fish at the end of a stick is what they would kind of be doing in their natural environment. now, you can see some excited behavior -- there we go. very good. >> that was exciting. ooh!
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are they fighting each other there? >> not necessarily fighting each other, but just a little bit of competition. >> so what's next? >> we just got done feeding the sharks, so we're gonna feed some of the smaller fishes in there. would you like to give it a shot? >> sure! >> all right. >> to throw the fish, or not to throw the fish -- will i do it? we'll find out when "teen kids news" continues. [laughing] [tires screeching]
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[ mission: impossible theme plays ] target acquired.
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check. check. check. check. target in the pool. [ squeaks ] no! there's my angel. make unsupervised pool access an impossible mission. >> we're on a behind-the-scenes tour at the maritime aquarium in norwalk, connecticut. it's feeding time, and i'm about to reach into a bucket of very cold, very wet, and very dead fish. yum! so, what do i do? >> okay, you're just gonna take a handful. you're gonna go to the edge here and then you're just gonna throw it out and cascade it over the edge here so that they can all get the fish -- have an equal opportunity. >> all right. right now?
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>> yep, go for it. >> ugh! it's cold and gross! [ laughs ] that did not work as well as i planned it. like so many other things in life, practice makes perfect. >> look at them all coming. you're a pro at this now. very good. now over here you can see... >> each area of the aquarium re-creates life in the wild. so not only do the tanks need to be kept at specific temperatures, even the amount of salt in the water needs to be individually controlled. i was also surprised to learn that something in these tanks is used to make one of my favorite foods. >> if you're reading the ingredients on ice cream or even beauty products, if you look for something called karagenin or agar -- that actually comes from seaweeds from right here on long island sound or the atlantic ocean. >> the aquarium isn't all about fish. while not part of the official behind-the-scenes tour, ellen let me meet the seals. it turns out each one has plenty
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of personality. you make friends with your fist -- what's called "targeting." >> what's going on, razz? >> good. all right, what you can do is, you want to just hold the fish right like that in between two fingers and hand it right to her. >> aww, good razz. >> last but definitely not least, i'm going to get up close and personal with some of the strangest creatures of the deep at the ray touch tank. the stingrays are hungry, too. >> if you keep your hand nice and flat -- keep it in the water. here he comes. yep, if you keep your hand down nice and flat, they might know it's feeding time. >> hi. aww. >> keep your hand nice and flat. here we go -- this guy will give you a good pet. >> aww. now, before you decide to pet the next stingray you encounter, keep in mind that the stingers on these guys were carefully removed. >> the stingrays in the wild do have little stingers, or barbs, at the end of their tail, and that's kind of a defense mechanism. if a predator was gonna come up
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to them and try to eat them, they can use their barbs to kind of scare off their predators. but here at the aquarium, we can actually trim off those barbs so that way they're not stinging each other, and that way they're also not stinging the people who come to touch them. >> stingrays are actually related to sharks. unlike other fish, they have no bones, just cartilage like we have in our ears and noses. >> so scientists call that cartilaginous fishes. >> i learned a lot. i got to touch rays, work with seals, and help feed sharks. i guess i can say "tanks" for the memories. at the maritime aquarium at norwalk, i'm nicole for "teen kids news." >> that's it for this week. thanks for joining us. >> we'll see you next week on "teen kids news."
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>> on behalf of everyone here at "teen kids news," we want to express our appreciation to all of our military overseas. hi, i'm ben affleck,
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and many actors have played the part of u.s. servicemen in the movies, but for veterans like james crosby their service and their sacrifice are real. and too often when they come home, their struggle continues. for over sixty years, paralyzed veterans of america has been fighting to help our injured veterans get the benefits they need, and have earned. paralyzed veterans of america was there for me when i came home. join me in supporting our paralyzed veterans. visit p-v-a dot org. [thunder] announcer: up to 40% of businesses never recover after experiencing a major disaster. make a plan at ready.gov/business. [siren] announcer: preparing today

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